Why were athens and sparta unwilling or unable to unite and lead greece against philip of macedon

To philip, there was an additional bonus: no greek would think of revolt as long as a great many compatriots were serving in the macedonian army abroad the real cause of this war, of course, was not revenge, or philip's greed, or his attempt to create peace in greece by uniting it against a common enemy. As the eminent historian, jb bury writes, athens wasreduced to a secondary place by macedon, and thebes fared stillworse as the hegemony or first place among greek states had passedsuccessively from athens to sparta, and to thebes, so now it passedto macedon. Typically, the citizens of athens would gather in the agora when there was an assembly meeting the agora, a fixture of every major greek city-state, was a large open space in the middle of the city-state that contained a marketplace as well as government buildings. Athens and sparta, both powerful greek city-states, had fought as allies in the greco-persian wars between 499 and 449 bc in the wake of the persian retreat, however, athens grew more powerful. In later classical times, sparta along with athens, thebes, and persia had been the main powers fighting for supremacy against each other as a result of the peloponnesian war, sparta, a traditionally continental culture, became a naval power.

Athens had the strongest navy and sparta had the strongest army why were the greeks able to unite during the persian wars to avoid being governed by the persians. Although for centuries the cities of athens and sparta dominated greece, politically, militarily and economically, the battle of chaeronea, one of the most renowned of all greek battles, only involved one of these cities: athens combined forces with thebes to meet the rising power of macedon in a fight that would change history. Athens and their allies against sparta and their allies greeks lost after a traitor told xerxes about a path that went around the greek positionage 60 (essentially their entire lives) a united greece against the persians won by: greeks how: by using strategy such as phalanx 17 lasting effects after the war athens entered its golden. Sparta ancient greece was a prominent city-state in ancient greece in antiquity, the city-state was known as lacedaemon (λακεδαίμων, lakedaímōn), while the name sparta referred to its main settlement on the banks of the eurotas river in laconia, in south-eastern peloponnese.

Why were athens and sparta unwilling or unable to unite and lead greece against philip of macedon before philip of macedon stepped in to unify greece, greece was broken up into territories and provinces also, before king philip ii came into power, macedonia was unstable and was full of rural clans, which were all loosely tied under a hereditary empire. Athens especially emerged as a major superpower that led a host of other greek city-states (some willing, some unwilling, and some reluctant) in a defensive alliance, the delian league, against the persians. It served the triple purpose of strengthening philip's hellenic identity, contested as this was by his opponents, legitimizing philip's continuing operations in greece after the conclusion of the sacred war, and justifying his political plan of moving closer to athens and turning against thebes.

In later classical times, sparta along with athens, thebes, and persia had been the main powers fighting for supremacy against each other as a result of the peloponnesian war , sparta, a traditionally continental culture, became a naval power. When philip created the league of the greeks on the pretext of unifying greece against persia, the spartans were excluded of their own will the spartans had no interest in joining a pan-greek expedition if it was not under spartan leadership. Even then, the conquered cities were merely joined to philip ii of macedon's corinthian league they were not occupied, and ruled themselves city states ancient greece citizens in ancient greece were usually men who were free-born in that city athens against sparta after the persians were defeated at platea, the spartans did very. Athens requested help from sparta but was not entertained because the spartans were not allowed to leave the city because of some religious reasons so the only coalition was with the plataeans, who as an ally of athens since a long time.

The peloponnesian war (431–404 bc) was an ancient greek war fought by the delian league led by athens against the peloponnesian league led by sparta historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases. How philip of macedon gained power to the north of greece lies a region which in ancient times was called macedon, or macedonia the people of this country were much like the greeks, though more rough and barbarous. Sparta was a closed society, and losses of citizens in wars could not be replaced these losses had been accumulating during the peloponnese war in the 4th century, and were compounded in the wars. The book presently under review, 'a war like no other', deals with the great civil war within ancient greece between authoritarian sparta and democratic athens from 431-404 bc, made famous primarily through the contemporary account by thucydides. Ancient greece is the term used to describe the greek-speaking world in ancient times in 346 bc the thebans appealed to philip ii of macedon to help them against the phocians, thus drawing macedon into greek affairs for the athens, sparta and other greek states formed an alliance to resist philip and expel him from the greek cities he.

Even before the peace with athens was ratified (346), the athenian publicist isocrates was inviting philip to reconcile the four leading cities of greece and to lead a united greek alliance in a war of expansion against persia. City-states and alliances in ancient greece underlying reasons of their existence and their consequences sparta, athens athens made an effort to unite the various city-states in the era of its empire these efforts, however, did. Sparta was later humbled by thebes at the battle of leuctra in 371 bc, but the rivalry of athens and sparta was brought to an end a few decades later when philip ii of macedon conquered all of greece.

In 339 bc thebes, athens, sparta and other greek states formed an alliance to resist philip and expel him from the greek cities he had occupied in the north but philip struck first, advancing into greece and defeating the greek cities at chaeronea in 338 bc. Athens was a great commercial center for a long time, its navy was the most powerful in greece as her democratic institutions, commercial strength, and naval power grew, athens gradually turned into one of the greatest cultural center the world has ever seen.

The city-state of athens was the birthplace of many significant ideas ancient athenians were a thoughtful people who enjoyed the systematic study of subjects such as science, philosophy, and history, to name a few. In central greece, athens, thessaly, and thebes were fighting over the temple of apollo and its oracle at delphi (the so-called sacred war, 355-346) philip used this opportunity to move south and annex thessaly in 352, but an athenian force kept him from passing through thermopylae to get at thebes and athens. [4] plutarch the age of alexander [modern day greeks would like to dispatch off demosthenes castigations of philip ii as political rhetoric, and yet demosthenes was twice appointed to lead the war effort of athens against macedonia he, demosthenes, said of philip that philip was not greek, nor related to greeks but comes from macedonia where. Demosthenes is known mainly for his speeches against philip of macedon, or, more particularly, for his speeches arguing for the necessity of an active and unified greek resistance against philip, who by that time seemed quite ambitious and unlikely to be satisfied solely with.

Why were athens and sparta unwilling or unable to unite and lead greece against philip of macedon